LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Union representatives for Los Angeles airport police officers said they want city leaders to boost patrol-officer staffing at Van Nuys Airport, where there have been three security breaches and vandalism in recent months.
The first breach of the city-owned airport took place in December, when vandals used bolt cutters to bypass the fence and spray painted three private jets.
In March, a man crashed into a plane after driving a vehicle through the airport fence and crossing two active runways.
Earlier this month, a person climbed the airfield fence and inflicted more than $10,000 in damages to a car and two planes.
Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association officials — who represent the officers that patrol the airport — said in a statement that the breaches “are emblematic of the lack of attention paid to the airport by airport police management.”
“Perimeter breaches are happening at Van Nuys on an all too frequent basis,” LAAPOA President Marshall McClain said. “Most of these incidents involve someone simply climbing over the fence or cutting their way through it. These breaches could be prevented or mitigated by adequately staffing patrol officer positions at the airport.”
LAAPOA represents sworn police and firefighters assigned to Van Nuys Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, which is also owned by the city of Los Angeles.
Union officials spoke at the L.A. City Council’s Innovation, Grants, Technology, Commerce and Trade Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 19, which discussed security breaches.
The committee’s chair, Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, had called on Los Angeles World Airport officials last week to give a report on the three security breaches and to offer up a “corrective action plan.”